Mariachi band Flor de Toloache headlines Carson City Levitt AMP series Saturday

Latin Grammy winners Flor de Toloache perform in Carson City on Saturday at the Levitt AMP Concert Series presented by The Change Companies. It will be the band’s first time visiting Carson.

NYC MARIACHI

Flor de Toloache was founded by two members in New York City. The group started as a traditional mariachi band playing many traditional celebrations. When they started adding Top 40 music in their style, they started playing clubs in the city. They incorporate different types of music because they all come from different backgrounds.

“Using that with mariachi is what makes us unique,” vocalist Shae Fiol said.

The band has received much attention through their NPR Tiny Desk Concert on Youtube, which has reached 1.8 million viewers. In that they perform four songs.

RECENT ALBUM

The band released the album “Indestructible” on May 31. The album features Flor de Toloache’s original music with several collaborations. Fiol said it is their most evolved album and different from previous ones because they incorporated more genres.

“It’s beautiful,” Fiol said. “We love it and we still love it and it’s a really beautiful album.”

The album’s collaborations include John Legend, Alex Cuba, Josh Baca of Los Texmaniacs, Las Migas, Sinuhé Padilla and R&B singer Miguel. Fiol said it’s been well received and many people love hearing Legend and Miguel sing in Spanish. It also features a cover of the No Doubt song “Don’t Speak.”

The band’s previous album “Las Caras Lindas” won a Latin Grammy in 2017 for Best Ranchero/Mariachi Album.

“That was really exciting — getting that acknowledgment helps keep us going,” Fiol said. “It’s really special to be the first all-women group to win that category.”

ALL-WOMEN BAND

The band is known for being an all-women group, which is uncommon for a mariachi band. Fiol said they also break stereotypes of all-women bands in a way. There are more and more female musicians playing instruments that are typically masculine, she said.

“We’re trying to do that and be ourselves and not be a certain way,” she said. “We’re showing a different option of what a musician can be.”

Songs written by men also often show only one side of the spectrum. More women musicians mean more songs about life from a woman’s point of view.

“For women in mariachi, hopefully we encourage women to write more songs from a women’s perspective for women,” Fiol said.

FUTURE PLANS

The band will stay busy touring the United States, and they hope to do a tour in Europe. They have previously opened for The Black Keys’ singer Dan Auerbach’s new band, the Arcs, and played in several European countries. The next tour will be just Flor de Toloache headlining each show. Their goals is to keep writing, and Fiol said winning a Latin Grammy would be amazing and an American Grammy would be really cool.

“Our goal is to keep going and doing what we love, and writing what we love,” Fiol said. “And hopefully getting more people to hear it and fall in love with it.”